


The Curse That No One Can Break

by theflyingdalek



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Hogwartvengers, Marvel (Movies), The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Hogwartvengers - Freeform, M/M, avengers in hogwarts, hogwartavengers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-07
Updated: 2013-02-19
Packaged: 2017-11-20 14:10:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 29
Words: 15,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/586224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theflyingdalek/pseuds/theflyingdalek
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve is Head Boy this year. And rooming with Tony Stark. It is already going to be a long year, when suddenly Muggleborns begin to lose their powers. Something has to be done.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. First Day Back

"Banner made a love potion, but won't give it to me because he thinks I'm _irresponsible_ ", Tony singsonged.

"Why would you make a love potion if you don't want to use it?", Peggy asked Bruce.

"He wanted the challenge, and a love potion is one of the most complicated potions there is.", Tony answered.

"Maybe you could let _Bruce_ answer once in a while", Peggy chided.

Bruce Banner blushed.

"I've got to get back to the Ravenclaw table. The Sorting is about to start."

Banner ducked his head and smiled at Peggy Carter before walking down to the end of the Ravenclaw table where the other seventh years were sitting.

Tony rolled his eyes. Tradition. Well, at least it wasn't like the olden days when each house _only_ sat at their house table through the entire year. Now they only did that at Beginning of the Year and End of the Year feasts. It was still irritating though. Especially today, when Tony was trying to wheedle that love potion from Banner. He didn't exactly know what he wanted to do with it, but there was definitely mischief to be done. Oh well, wheedling could wait. It looked like Steve was walking over to sit with them.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the new Head Boy deigning to sit amongst the underlings", Tony announced with a smirk.

Steve blushed as he sat down.

"Peggy is Head Girl, and you don't give _her_ any trouble for it.", Steve pointed out.

"That is because I wouldn't let him get under my skin", Peggy tutted, "You shouldn't either."

"I don't let him get under my skin", Steve argued halfheartedly. "

Peggy scoffed lightly.

"He just does", Steve added under his breath.

"That is why I am so fabulous", Tony bragged.

"You ready for the new Quidditch season, Captain?", Peggy asked, cleverly changing the subject. If Tony was allowed to go on, he could talk about himself for hours.

Steve perked up at this discussion topic. Steve loved Quidditch, and this would be his first year as Gryffindor Team Captain. His team was good. Peggy was as good of a Chaser as anyone could  
be, and even if Tony drove him crazy, Tony had a fantastic eye for the Snitch.

"Our competition is pretty tough this year", Steve commented humbly.

It was true. Natasha Romanov and Clint Barton were both great seekers for Slytherin and Hufflepuff. But to tell the truth, Steve wasn't really worried. Both Slytherin and Hufflepuff had terrible Keepers, and their Chasers weren't great either. So unless they let some talented first years onto the team, Gryffindor had a very good shot at the House Cup. But then again, Thor was a hell of a Beater. 

Steve could hear Thor's booming laugh all the way from the Hufflepuff table. It seemed to fill the Great Hall, and even some of the professors from the Head table looked over to see what the commotion was about. It looked like some poor, unfortunate first year had said something that was probably mildly amusing, and had incited the amusement of Thor Odinson. 

Steve smiled, he remembered the first time that he had met Thor. He immediately assumed that the huge boy was incredibly intoxicated. But after sharing a few classes and meals with the boy  
Steve realized that Thor was always like that. Steve liked Thor though, Steve hadn't always been well built, and as a first year, he was rather scrawny. It meant a lot to his eleven year old self to have a friend as popular and strong as Thor. 

Thor's boisterous laughter ended a little too suddenly, and Steve looked up and around the room sharply. He saw Thor's younger brother, Loki, with his wand out at the Slytherin table. Loki had a rather sly look on his face, and winked at Steve. A silencing spell. Steve stifled a laugh himself. Thor looked around the room, gesturing with his hands wildly, and with a flick of Loki's wand,  
Thor's voice was back. None of the professors noticed, but Loki never got caught anyways.

Steve thought that it might be best to give Loki a chiding glare, and Loki accepted it with a nod and a smirk.

Steve looked away from the Slytherin table and allowed himself to be pulled into Tony's conversation about the best riding brooms. Apparently Tony was performing some experiments on some of the school riding brooms.

"Isn't that dangerous, Stark?", Steve asked, resigned to deal with whatever answr Tony was going to give.

"Of course it is", Tony answered with a grin. "You gonna report me, Head Boy?"

Steve sighed. Tony Stark had always been a rather large problem in Steve's life at Hogwarts. He had a penchant for mischief, and Steve liked to follow the rules. But then again, Steve also knew that  
Tony Stark had a good heart and a love of kindness. It was hard, in a way that it wasn't hard with Loki, because Steve was responsible for the behavior of the students in Gryffindor, while Loki was a Slytherin. Loki's rule breaking should be taken care of by his own prefects and head boys. Also, Loki didn't have a habit of flouting his rule breaking in front of Steve's nose.

Steve was pretty sure that Tony did that flouting just to test his patience. He listened as Tony animatedly described the many injuries he had sustained when experimenting on the brooms. It was going to be a long year.

Professor Coulson, the head of Gryffindor house, and Steve's favorite professor tapped his glass with a knife to attract everyone's attention. The Sorting was about to begin.

Tony begrudgingly shut up and began to tap the table with his nails. Steve glared at him. Steve actually really enjoyed the Sorting Ceremony every year. It reminded him of his own Sorting and how he was brought into the magical world out of the mundane world of Muggles. 

He was so very nervous that day, since he didn't know anyone at Hogwarts. But he remembered his first ride on the Hogwarts Express and how Bucky Barnes, the Hufflepuff third year, dragged him into a compartment and spent the remaining hours of the trip babbling about his summer trip to France and force feeding him sweets. Bucky had really taken care of Steve throughout his time at Hogwarts, and when Bucky had graduated, Steve was a little worried with how he would copy by himself. But Steve had friends of his own now, and although he imssed Bucky, he still had a great time at Hogwarts. They still wrote to each other about once a week anyway. 

Steve attentively watched the Sorting Ceremony and politely clapped as each student was sorted into a house. Even Tony joined in with the cheering when a student was sorted into Gryffindor. At least Tony had House spirit.

Once the students were sorted and seated, Headmaster Fury stood up at the head table and coughed twice. The room fell silent, and all eyes focussed on the perpertually angry-looing headmaster. 

"Welcome, new students, to Hogwarts. I expect no bullshit from you this year. Work hard. Be smart."

He sat down again, and somehow it was clear that everyone was dismissed. Steve stayed seated as the first years were eld out by the prefects. He silently thanked God that he wasn't a prefect anymore, it had been so stressful that first day, trying to not lose any of the students of the whole new class on their long trek to the Gryffindor common room. Tonight, he could relax. 

A loud whistle pierced the room, and Steve looked over to the Hufflepuff table. Clint Barton caught his eye and jerked his head to point out th eSlytherin table. Steve poked Tony lightly.

"We're meeting at the Slytherin common room", he mumbled under his breath.

Tony groaned.

"I _hate_ meeting there", Tony complained, "It is so far away from our dorms."

"It _is_ Tasha's turn", Steve reminded.

"Fine, fine."

They walked together to the front of the hall to meet the others. Loki and Banner were chatting about the merits of some sort of cauldron that sped up potion brewing. Natasha and Clint were arguing about Quidditch, as Thor threw in his own two cents every once in a while. None of the conversations stopped as Tony and Steve melded into the group, but everyone started to head down to the Slytherin dungeons. 

Steve disagreed with Tony. He kind of liked meeting in the Slytherin common room. It had a lot of space and was nice and cool. The couches and things were comfortable, and it was never stuffy, like the Gryffindor common room could be. 

Loki whispered the password and the entrance opened. They all piled in. Some of the first years still sitting in the common room looked up in surprise, but the rest of the inhabitants of the room went on as usual. It wasn't strange for members of other houses to congregate in one house's common room, since there was no other place in the castle that they could go and socialize in at night. Except for the Room of Requirement, but that was only for special occasions, since Tony and Banner had mostly taken over that room for their more dangerous experiments, and had to be warned ahead of time to clear the room out. Tony had found out that as long as they kept something that was living in the room, they could leave and no one else could enter into a different setting of the room. So, that was how Tony came to keeping Natasha's cat in his lab.

The friends sat on the rug nearest to the fireplace. They talked about their summers and their new class schedules and things. Everyone unfolded the packets of parchment that included their rooming and class assignments and were comparing rooms.

Steve glanced over his dorming arrangements. He wasn't too surprised, Head Boys usually had the better rooms. What did surprise him was whose name was listed as his dorm mate.

"Guess who gets to room with Gryffindor's sexy Quidditch captain?", Tony Stark drawled.

Everyone slowly set their papers down and turned to look at Steve, who was most certainly turning red with embarrassment.

Yes, this was going to be a long year.


	2. Chapter 2

The friend chatted by the fire until midnight, and Thor had fallen soundly asleep, leaning against a first year who had the misfortune to sit in the wrong spot and was now terrified of moving.

Clint lightly punched his friend on the shoulder to wake him up.

"Come on, big buddy. Time for bed", Clint whispered.

They all stood up and stretched and said their goodbyes, heading to their separate houses.

"Well, Cap", Tony sighed, "Time to head home."

Steve grabbed his robe which he had slung over a couch and stood up. He and Tony walked in silence all the way up the stairs into Gryffindor tower.

When they got to the room, Steve smiled. He felt at home. It looked just like the dorm that he had last year and the year before, but it was larger. His things were already unpacked, and they had their own fireplace. 

Tony jumped onto his bed and bounced lightly.

"So Cap, are we going to braid each other's hair and share secrets all night?"

Steve frowned.

"We should get to bed. It is getting late, and we have classes tomorrow", he reminded.

"Buzz kill", Tony sighed and reached over to his trunk and pulled out a flask. "Fancy a drink?"

Steve's frown deepened. 

"Drinking is prohibited on campus."

Tony let out a laugh.

"Oh yeah, sorry. I forgot that I'm rooming with Head Boy Steve this year.", Tony muttered, "Better be on my best behavior."

At that, Tony rolled around and burrowed into his covers and went promptly to sleep. Steve figured that he had been tired already, but he still felt a bit bad.

Steve and Tony had never _really_ gotten along. Tony was too much flash and noise and mischief, and Steve was kind of... well he was boring. Steve believed in the rules. He knew that Tony   
was a good guy, but it was hard to hang out with him when he kept throwing the school rules around like they were nothing. Not to mention that Tony was from a rich pureblood family, while   
Steve was from a rather poor muggle family. They never really had much to talk about. Except when Tony was hitting on him. But then again, Tony hit on everyone.

Steve sighed a bit to himself and changed into his sleeping clothes. Tony hadn't even bothered to get out of his robes. He looked a little softer when he was sleeping. It made Steve smile. With all of the bravado and confidence and sleazyness that Tony projected 24-7, it was easy to forget that he was just another guy too.

Another guy who happened to do extraordinarily well in all his classes even though he rarely showed up. Steve chuckled. Sharing a dorm with Tony would definitely be interesting. Hopefully they would both finish the year alive.


	3. Chapter 3

Steve loved the first day of classes. There was something exciting about having fresh parchment and sharpened quills. The Gryffindors had Transfiguration first, and although Steve wasn't exactly   
fantastic at Transfiguration, he enjoyed the challenge and he thought the subject was fascinating.

Steve took a seat at the front of the classroom and rolled his eyes as Tony headed straight towards the back. Steve was quickly joined by Peggy Carter. 

"Morning, Peggy", Steve greeted.

"Morning , Steve", Peggy replied with a smile.

Steve and Peggy had sat together in Transfiguration since their first year. Steve loved watching Peggy in Transfiguration because she was absolutely fantastic. She was the best in the year.   
Actually, she was the best in the school. She was fierce and determined and she made Steve smile.

Professor Hill was running behind schedule, so when she burst into the classroom, everyone was chatting away amiably. 

 

"Books away, wands out!", she commanded. "New spell today. Can I have a volunteer? How about Miss Carter?"

Peggy straightened her cardigan and grinned. She pulled out her wand and waited for instruction.

Professor Hill whispered the instructions into Peggy's ear. Peggy stood up straight and faced the teapot that had been placed on the desk in front of her.

"Protean!", she shouted as she waved her wand.

Nothing happened.

Peggy frowned and Professor Hill looked around the classroom.

Peggy tried again.

"Protean!"

Peggy was beginning to look desperate. She turned her wand to face the quill on the professor's desk. 

"Wingardium Leviosa!"

Again, nothing happened. Peggy's eyes started to water. But she didn't cry. Peggy wasn't the kind of girl to cry. She just lifted her head and turned to face Professor Hill.

"I am going to go to the Hospital Wing", she announced and then stalked out.

Steve stood up to follow her out, but Professor Hill stopped him.

"I think she may want to be alone for a bit, Rogers."

Steve frowned but sat down. The class burst into excited and horrified whispers. 

"Did you _see_ that?", someone whispered.

"What the hell was that?!"

"Can that even _happen_?"

The professor coughed lightly, and the class quieted down.

But some of the Slytherins weren't paying attention and a loud whisper broke the silence.

"I _told_ you that Mudbloods couldn't handle Hogwarts."

Both Steve and Tony were up with their wands out pointed at the suddenly terrified looking Slytherin.

"WHAT did you SAY?", Tony growled.

"Nothing. I'm so sorry, Steve. I didn't mean you.", the student stammered.

" Expelliarmus!"

The wands flew out of Steve and Tony's hands. Professor Hill looked furious. 

"No fighting. Collins, go see your Head of House. He will see to your punishment. Rogers and Stark, you too. Head of House."

Both Steve and Tony glared at Professor Hill and gathered their books. They stalked out and walked back to Gryffindor Tower. 

Steve groaned. He was Head Boy this year. He wasn't supposed to be getting in trouble. Luckily, Professor Coulson was pretty understanding. 

Tony walked ahead of Steve and held the door open.

"My lord", Tony said with a mocking little bow.

Steve rolled his eyes and walked into Coulson's office. Time to face whatever ridiculous punishment they would be getting.


	4. Chapter 4

Steve and Tony walked into Professor Coulson's office. It was a very large and rather bare office. The desk and bookshelves were all dark redwood and were filled with dull looking books and several small magical items that whirred softly.

"Boys", Coulson greeted, not looking up from his paperwork.

"Good afternoon Professor Coulson", Steve greeted.

Tony rudely remained silent.

Professor Coulson finished his letter and finally looked up to face his students. He looked tired and wary and a little bit worried.

"Alright, Mr. Rogers, Mr. Stark, I know what you did, and it was unacceptable. Fighting in class and drawing your wand on another student _no matter what they said_ is completely   
inappropriate and you have both disappointed me."

Tony glanced at Steve, looking a bit worried. Steve was staring dejectedly at the ground.

"On the other hand, I have more things to worry about now than disciplining you, so each of you will simply have to do with seven detentions together."

Steve and Tony turned to each other and glared at each other a bit. Steve hadn't ever had detention before, but Tony was used to it. Steve was definitely not looking forward to spending all that   
time with Tony who would probably end up just making more trouble. But hey, there was nothing they could do about it now. And anyway, it was Steve who had gotten himself in trouble, not   
Tony. Steve straightened up and looked at Professor Coulson.

"You have questions", Coulson went on, turning back to his letter.

"Professor, what is wrong with Peggy? Is she sick? Is something like this even possible? I didn't know you could lose your magic?", Steve asked.

Tony took a deep breath but did not say anything.

Coulson rubbed his hand over his face.

"Mr. Rogers, I shouldn't be telling you this, but you're Head Boy, and I want you to keep an eye out."

Tony sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Shut up, Mr. Stark.", Coulson directed, "Anyway, Ms. Carter has lost her magic. We don't really know why, and we've never heard of anything like this before. We have no precedent. But this is very   
dark magic. Very dark. Classes have been cancelled for the rest of the day and students are back in the houses. Classes should resume tomorrow morning."

Coulson sounded worried.

"Is it...?", Steve trailed off, but Coulson and Tony both knew what Steve was asking. Did the dark magic affect Peggy Carter because she was a Muggleborn.

Tony suddenly had the urge to go up and grasp Steve Roger's hand because the boy sounded so nervous. Tony was from a long line of Purebloods, but Steve had come from a Muggleborn family. A   
poor one at that. 

"I don't know, Steve.", Coulson admitted. "I don't know."

This time, Tony did walk up to Rogers and set his hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Let's go, Rogers. You'll have very stressed housemates to calm down."

Steve flinched at the touch, but plastered a rather fake looking smile on his face.

"Thank you, Tony. You're right.", Steve said, shaking his head as if to shake off dark thoughts. "Thank you Professor Coulson." 

The two Gryffindors walked out together and headed towards the dorms.


	5. Chapter 5

Tony had been right. The moment the two boys walked into the common room, everyone was abuzz. 

"What happened to Peggy?"

"Is she alright?"

"Did you guys get in a lot of trouble?"

"Did you curse that guy on the way to Coulson's?"

Steve put his hand up and everyone quieted down.

"Something's wrong with Peggy, but I don't know what it is, and if Coulson know, then he isn't telling us. Classes are cancelled for today, but we will probably resume in the morning. Of course we   
didn't curse anyone in the hallway."

Steve gave everyone the Head Boy glare. 

"Everyone should get some work done and we'll call it an early night", Tony added. 

Steve glanced at Tony gratefully, and Tony waggled his eyebrows playfully.

Most of the students stalked back into their dorms whispering quietly. Some of them stayed in the Common Room and pulled out rolls of parchment to work. 

Tony walked over to the fireplace and threw a bit of Floo powder into the fire. 

"Kitchens!", he commanded, and stuck his head into the flames.

No matter how many times Steve had seen the Floo network being used, he could never really get used to people stepping into green fire. 

After a while, Tony got back out and dusted ash off of his robes.

"We're meeting in the Room of Requirement in twenty minutes", Tony announced.

In their second year, Tony had bribed all of the house elves to work as a personal message system. Actually, what had happened was that Tony had bought them all a round of butterbeer, and they   
just happened to love to help out. Steve didn't like it, but it was effective. And whenever Steve saw a house elf around, he always tried to be extra nice.

Steve nodded and went to get out of his school clothes. He was really much more comfortable in Muggle clothes, even if it was very clear that he didn't have much money. They felt comfortable   
and they felt real. 

Tony followed Steve in and began to undress. Steve couldn't help but glance over a couple times. Tony was a very attractive person, even Steve couldn't deny that. Even though Tony was a rule   
breaker and all around exasperating. 

They got dressed and Steve pulled out his wand to perform a Disillusionment Charm. It made it easier to walk around without getting caught, but Tony stopped him.

"My uncle bought me something that I wanted to show you."

Steve furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. This was odd. But then Tony walked over to his trunk and pulled out the most beautiful shimmery cloak that he had ever seen.

"An invisibility cloak", Tony said, just in case.

Steve just nodded dumbly. He was a Muggleborn, obviously, but he knew all about Invisibility Cloaks. They were rare and expensive and absolutely wonderful. 

Steve looked over to Tony who, surprisingly, looked a bit nervous, as if he weren't sure how Steve would react.

"This is fantastic, Tony!", Steve exclaimed finally.

Tony relaxed.

"I was just worried, because, you know, they're kind of against the rules and all..."

Steve grinned.

"Yeah, but they're not dangerous and they don't hurt people."

Tony smiled back at Steve.

"Want to try it out?"

"More than anything."


	6. Chapter 6

It took about ten minutes to climb out of the common room door and sneak down to the Room of Requirement. Usually, it took about half an hour, but this time, Steve and Tony didn't have to keep ducking into corridors and hiding behind statues to avoid Mr. Filch, who Tony said had been working at Hogwarts for forever.

The Gryffindor tower was the furthest tower from the Room of Requirement, so by the time Steve and Tony got there, everyone was already huddled in the common room and munching on cakes.

"Where did the food come from?", Steve asked.

The Room of Requirement didn't provide food. 

"We stopped by the kitchens on the way up", Natasha answered, shrugging.

For some odd reason, the kitchen elves absolutely _adored_ Natasha. Nobody really understood why. Steve was the one who was always super friendly to them, and Tony respected and   
understood them, and Thor would play games with them sometimes, and Banner would help them out with healing potions if they got sick, and Loki would work with them to play pranks on   
people (they loved playing pranks), and everyone loved Clint, but still, the house elves did anything Natasha every asked. It was weird.

"So what do you guys know so far?", Clint asked from on top of a bookshelf.

For as long as Steve could remember, Clint had always been hanging from the ceiling or climbing onto the roof or swinging from the battlements. He liked to be able to see everyone and   
everything. Steve didn't mind. It meant that everyone was a little bit safer, even though it sometimes made Steve's heart stop when Clint was precariously perched on some of the more rickety   
structure in Hogwarts. But Clint had never gotten hurt before, so Steve allowed it. Not that Clint listened to Steve, but Clint listened to Natasha and Natasha listened to Steve. More or less. 

"Coulson didn't tell us anything", Tony informed the group.

The group groaned in unison.

"I told you guys they wouldn't know anything new", Bruce said wisely. 

"I was expecting my good wise friends to bring us new information, however, now I see that I may have been foolish", Thor admitted.

Loki threw a pencil at him.

"Well, did anyone go see Peggy after class was dismissed?", Steve asked.

Bruce nodded. 

"Loki snuck out of class and grabbed me, and we met Natasha in the hospital wing. Madam McTaggert told us to get out though, she had given Peggy a sleeping draught. She looked fine, just a bit   
sad.", Bruce updated.

"Mactaggert looked scared though", Natasha added.

Loki and Banner nodded in unison.

They all sat on the floor in silence for a while, chewing quietly. Peggy didn't usually hang out with them when it was just them, but they all liked her. She was smart and cool. And it was very clear   
that Bruce had a very large crush on her. 

"So what are we going to do?", Tony asked.

"There isn't much we can do now", Steve answered.

"I do not like this waiting around", Thor complained.

"I don't either, Thor", Steve replied, "I don't either."


	7. Chapter 7

This was the second detention Steve was serving with Tony, and Steve was already about to tear his hair out.

They had been assigned to help out in the kitchens (to the kitchen elves' dismay), and were _supposed_ to be washing dishes without magic. 

But, Tony had talked the elves into a deal, letting the elves wash the dishes, as long as the elves didn't tell Coulson that the students hadn't washed them. The elves had taken to washing the dishes   
gleefully, even thanking Tony for his brilliant idea. Steve, however, was not as happy.

"Are you kidding me, Stark?", he growled, "what part of 'punishment' do you not understand?"

"Chill out, Cap", Tony answered lazily, "why work when you don't have to? You're making the elves nervous. You know they were going to rewash everything anyway."

"That isn't the point, Tony.", Steve grumbled.

He was the Head Boy now. He could not just throw a punch whenever he felt like it. Not that he had ever done it before, but still, back then it was nice knowing that he could.

"Fine then", Steve decided, "I'll wash them by myself."

Tony snorted.

"Seriously?"

But Steve had already gone back to the giant sink and had begun to scrub some pans.

"Suit yourself", Tony drawled, sipping tea.

Steve didn't answer, but may have scrubbed the plate a little harder than necessary.

"Way to take out your hatred of me on a poor innocent dish", Tony commented, still not moving.

"I don't hate you, Stark", Steve sighed.

"You sure act like it", Tony replied before standing up and walking out of the kitchens. 

Detention be damned.


	8. Chapter 8

The students of Hogwarts had been a bit gloomy as of late. Three students, all Muggle-born, had, with no warning, lost their ability to perform magic.

Not only were students scared now, the fact that all of the victims were Muggle-born had sparked new blood purity arguments. There were people who were angry at the Slytherins, who everyone   
seemed to assume would be the only kind of student responsible for attacking Muggleborns (even though the house had a few Muggleborns of its own). There were people who were excited about   
the attacks and counted them in as a purifying ritual. There were people who wanted to completely ignore the attacks. It was all very complicated.

So when Headmaster Fury called yet another staff meeting, no one was really surprised.

"Someone has got to get this figured out", Fury started.

"Three students in five days", Moira MacTaggert added rather unhelpfully.

"So what exactly do we know so far?", asked Professor Maria Hill.

Professor Coulson answered promptly.

"All three students just randomly lost their powers. They can't cast spells at all. They can't even brew potions. One Gryffindor and two Ravenclaws. The only thing that they all have in common is   
that..."

"They are all Muggleborns", Potions Master Erik Lensherr finished.

"So do we think this is a curse or a potion?", MacTaggert asked, "Because the treatment would be quite different for each."

"How are we treating the students so far?", Coulson asked.

"We can't do much. We're simply making sure that they are well rested and fed. We're also trying to keep their friends from visiting them.", Mactaggert answered.

"Why are we keeping visitors out?', Hill asked.

"Because we can't be sure that the visitors are friends and not bullies", Mactaggert replied. "I let letters in though."

Charles Xavier, the Divinations professor nodded from his corner.

"What do you think, Charles?", Professor Lensherr asked, sounding much more pleasant than he usually did.

"I don't know, Professor. If the headmaster deems it proper, I guess I would like to talk to the students. See if they have any parallel memories? We could possibly find a clue or something.",   
Professor Xavier noted.

Erik Lensherr turned a glare on Headmaster Fury, but the headmaster was already waving his hand in consent.

"I trust your judgment and discretion, Charles. Do what you think is right", Fury said.

The rest of the table nodded in agreement.

"Alright, meeting adjourned. Everyone keep an eye out for trouble", Coulson voiced.

The professors all stood up and rolled up their parchment and put away their pens. 

Erik Lensherr waited behind for a rather distracted and clumsy Professor Xavier.

"Hi Charles", Erik said.

"Hello, Professor Lensherr", Charles greeted, a bit too formally for Erik's liking.

"Can you _please_ drop that, Charles? We've known each other for years."

"Have a nice day, Professor", Charles answered airily before promptly exiting the classroom.

"Damn that ridiculous man", Erik Lensherr muttered to himself. "Damn him."


	9. Chapter 9

Steve and Tony finished up their last session of detention. Well, Steve finished up his last session of detention, and Tony ate bread with marmalade. 

"Finally, a week of lost nights is over!", Tony cheered.

Steve couldn't help but smile. He was pretty happy that they were out of detention. Quidditch practices had been cut short every day since they couldn't really practice without their captain and Seeker.

"Back to working hard on the Quidditch pitch", Steve added.

Tony rolled his eyes.

"Of course you would make the joys of finishing detention about more work, Rogers", Tony laughed, "Do you _ever_ relax?"

Steve sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"Tony, can we please not argue for once?", Steve asked, feeling rather exasperated.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say, Cap", Tony said with a grin, but Steve couldn't help but wonder if Tony really meant it.

They climbed the stairs together.

"I'm a bit tired", Tony said as they walked into their dorm room.

Steve nodded and agreed and told himself that he was _definitely_ not checking Tony Stark out as Stark undressed. Steve had seen Tony undress a million times after Quidditch practice, and he had never really looked before. Well, never properly looked. 

Yes, Tony Stark was an attractive man, Steve could admit at least that much. But the guy was a jerk and inconsiderate and overall ridiculous. He also slept through nearly the entire student body. He was a pain to live with.

Steve purposely averted his eyes and concentrated on dressing himself. When he looked up, Tony was looking at him strangely.

"What is it?", Steve asked.

"Nothing", Tony replied, shaking his head.

Steve crawled into his bed and turned down the lamp.

"Night, Stark."

"Goodnight, Cap."


	10. Chapter 10

Steve woke up late the next morning, which was strange, he rarely slept in. The corridors were nearly empty and everything was oddly quiet.

Steve stopped a second year Ravenclaw to ask what was going on. Apparently it was four students now, and each of the students had been boarded up in the hospital wing. Nobody was allowed to visit. 

Throughout the day Steve paid close attention to the people around him. Student morale was low. Few people smiled and even fewer laughed. It seemed disrespectful to have fun. Not to mention that everyone was nervous that the very fragile status quo was going to splinter and crack. 

So of course, Tony Stark decided it was time to throw a party. Steve really had no idea where Tony got his sense of propriety. 

Steve was already having a long day when he walked into the common room and found it completely empty. There was only one place in the castle that wasn't the Great Hall (where Steve had just come from) that could fit the entire population of Gryffindor (and if Steve's guess was right, the entire student population), the Room of Requirement. So, Steve changed out of his uniform and into some khaki slacks and a sweater before leaving his dorm.

The Room of Requirement had been expanded to three times the usual size and was filled with rather cheery looking students. There was a huge collection of bottles of butterbeer and firewhisky lined up on a table near the wall on the right. 

It only took Steve a few minutes to track Tony down and drag him into the hallway.

"What the hell, Tony?", Steve yelled.

Tony laughed, but there was really no mirth behind it.

"You really need to relax sometimes, Cap", Tony said.

"You need to stop treating life like it is some sort of stupid _game_!"

"You really think that lowly of me, don't you?", Tony asked.

"Respect has to be earned, Tony, and everything you've done so far shows me that you don't deserve it."

Tony made a big show of rolling his eyes.

"Sorry _Head Boy_ that I don't live up to your ridiculous golden expectations."

"Well you never will if you keep sneaking banned goods onto campus.", Steve reminded. 

"It is just for a little fun. It'll raise their spirits. If you haven't noticed, everyone is walking around on eggshells. It isn't healthy." 

"It's not safe. And it is against the rules." 

"You think you're so high and mighty, don't you?", Tony growled much closer to Steve then he was used to. 

Actually, Tony was pretty much pushing Steve into the corridor wall, and Tony's mouth was only inches away from Steve's, which made no sense to Steve since Tony was inches shorter than him. Steve suddenly had the very urgent need to push Tony lightly away from him and go take a shower. Possibly a cold one. 

Steve shook his head and turned back to Tony. 

"I'm just doing what's right!", Steve argued. 

"Sometimes I wish I could just...", Tony paused, eyes suddenly moving down 

"Just what?", Steve asked. 

"Look at your wand!" 

Excuse me?!", Steve asked, jumping away, blushing. 

Tony paused to think and then laughed once before clearly pointing at Steve's wand in his hand. 

"Your wand is glowing" 

"Oh", Steve said cleverly. 

Then he did a double take. 

"Shit. Head Boy alert." 

"They _have_ that?", Tony asked, laughing, "Also, I think that may be the first time I heard you curse." 

Steve rolled his eyes. 

"I've got to go, Stark. Close this down." 

"Sure, Cap. I'll get rid of the alcohol this time, but I'm not kicking them all out." 

Steve nodded. It was as much as he could really hope for. He rushed off to Professor Coulson's office. Head Boy Alert rarely went off, and Coulson still hadn't appointed a replacement for Peggy yet, so there was no Head Girl. Steve would probably end up handling this emergency alone. 


	11. Chapter 11

"Professor Coulson! Sorry it took me so long to get down here", Steve Rogers apologized.

"It is fine, Mr. Rogers. Could you sit down please?", Professor Coulson asked.

Suddenly, Steve was nervous. Coulson seemed a bit _off_.

"Professor, is there something wrong?", Steve asked.

"Steve. There's been another attack."

Steve took a deep breath. There must be something different about this one, or Coulson wouldn't be telling him at all. 

"What do you know about the whereabouts of Bucky Barnes?"


	12. Chapter 12

Bucky Barnes. Why was Coulson asking about Bucky? Was he attacked?

"Sir, has Bucky been attacked?", Steve asked worriedly.

Professor Coulson looked up at Steve and smiled sadly.

"No, Steve, Mr. Barnes hasn't been attacked."

"Then why are you asking about him?"

"Steve. It seems that each of the... victims of this curse has had some sort of tie to Mr. Barnes."

Steve froze. There was no way that Professor Coulson was considering the idea that Bucky could be doing something like this. Bucky wouldn't do something to hurt Muggle borns. For goodness sake! _Steve_ was a Muggle born and everyone knew that Bucky had taken him under his wing.

"Professor, you can't be saying.."

"I'm not saying anything, Mr. Rogers", Coulson interrupted. "I just called you down here to make a list of other people that Bucky was close to. I know that you know who they are. I also need to provide for your own security."

"I don't _need_ security, Professor. Because I know that Bucky has nothing to do with this."

"You may know that, Steve, but I do not. And I will not allow you to walk around unprotected if I know something. And now I know something."

"So what? You want to assign some sort of guard to me?"

"It doesn't need to be that complicated. You just need to be accompanied by someone whenever you are out of your classroom, common room, or dormitory. It can be a friend. Mr. Banner would be a good choice until the full moon."

Steve nodded slowly. Bruce had told them all that he was a werewolf at the beginning of last year after a close scrape. Nobody could blame Bruce for the close scrape because it had mostly been Clint's fault, since Barton liked to follow people and figure out all of their secrets. Anyway, Steve liked Bruce. He wouldn't mind spending more time with him.

"Ms. Romanov would be sufficient too", Coulson added, "Or Barton, or Odinson, or even Stark would do in a pinch."

Steve couldn't help but flinch when Coulson mentioned Tony. Steve already spent enough time with Tony Stark.

"Although, if you have had enough of Tony Stark, which I am quite sure you have, Loki Laufeyson isn't that bad of a companion."

Steve flushed. Coulson seemed to know that Steve had a soft spot for Loki. It wasn't his fault! Loki was really a good kid. He meant no real harm. 

"So I would like you to tell your friends soon, Mr. Rogers, like now."

Steve nodded and recognized he had been dismissed. He hurried back to his common room, knowing that Tony Stark would laugh at him for ages when he found out. But Steve did keep his wand out. Better to be safe than sorry.


	13. Chapter 13

Charles Xavier was rather worried. Well, all of the professors in Hogwarts were worried, but Charles tended to take things hard. He felt responsible for his students, and he had spent the last three days researching and contacting old friends trying to figure out what was going on. 

Professor Xavier sat back in his chair with a sigh. He had really gotten nowhere in his research and had just gotten to another dead end. He had just decided to close his eyes and rest a bit when there was a knock on the door.

Strange, most professors would just Floo in, and students were all in classes today. 

"Come in", Charles shouted, not wanting to get up.

There was a pause, and then the door swung open. It was Erik Lensherr. 

Charles groaned internally. He should have just pretended to not be there.

"Good afternoon, Charles. You seem to be always working."

"I'm researching to see what I can find about the cursed students, Erik", Charles replied, feeling irritated.

Erik frowned and walked over to Charles' desk. He was carrying a tray with tea and scones on it. Erik set the things down on the table and leaned over Charles' shoulder to look at the papers scattered over the desk.

"You don't seem to be getting anywhere, Charles", Erik noted.

"I _know_ that", Charles grumbled in reply.

He wondered what Erik was doing here. Charles had made it very clear that he was still very angry at his _former_ school friend, but the man wouldn't leave well enough alone. It wasn't like Charles was rude to Erik in public or anything, he just wasn't _friendly_. But of course Erik would want more. Stubborn bastard.

"The reason why you're not getting anywhere is because you're looking in the wrong places", Erik commented, thumbing through a sheaf of parchment.

Charles frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"This is dark magic, Charles."

Charles hated the way Erik said his name. He always drew it out, making it sound... well... different than when other people said it. Charles remembered back to when he was a child and loved it, thinking that it made him special...

"You're trying to find a curse deeply rooted in dark magic in books that you could find in a school library", Erik went on.

Charles didn't mention that the books he looked at _were_ in the school library.

"You're going to need an expert in dark magic", Erik concluded.

"And you know one", Charles sighed.

Erik grinned.

"Come on, Charles! You make it sound like I'm going to torture you. We can solve this thing as a team. Remember? We work well together."

Too well together... But what could Charles do? If this was the only way that he could get proper answers, then he would work with Erik Lensherr.

"Alright. Fine then. But we do this properly", Charles agreed, "and no funny business."

Erik's face lit up with a happy smile.

"Wouldn't dream of it, darling."


	14. Chapter 14

"So Coulson wants you to have a babysitter?", Tony laughed.

Steve sighed and looked over at his roommate who was sprawled out on his bed.

"How did you find out so fast?", Steve asked, frowning.

"Coulson sent Banner a letter", Tony answered, "Funny how he didn't send it to me."

"I have no idea", Steve answered sarcastically, "you seem pretty responsible to me."

"Ouch, Captain!", Tony answered with a grin, "Your words wound me."

Steve tugged off his robe and began to change out of his uniform.

"So everyone knows?", he asked.

Tony nodded.

"Banner is setting up a schedule and everything. All of us are going to help out and take turns so you don't get an overdose of my awesomeness. Even Loki has offered to help out."

Steve smiled. It was pretty embarrassing that Coulson was forcing him to have a chaperone everywhere, but Steve was lucky that it was his friends and not professors. He could use the extra time to get to know them all better. Even Tony.

"We're not meeting tonight, by the way", Tony announced, "Tasha figured that you had enough meetings for the day, and that you should relax."

Steve nodded. It was very practical and sweet of Natasha to be thinking of him. He was pretty sure that she didn't want to force him to sit through the jibes that would definitely be coming his way from Barton and Loki. 

"I've finished my homework already, and you have too", Tony added. "Fancy a game of wizards chess?"


	15. Chapter 15

Steve had never really played chess before. Not even muggle chess. And of course when he arrived at Hogwarts and had seen the odd little chess pieces slaughter each other, Steve had avoided the game at all costs. But this offer seemed like an olive branch, and Steve wasn't ready to turn it down.

"I don't know how to play chess", Steve admitted.

"It's alright, Cap, I'll teach you!"

The next three hours consisted of Tony teaching Steve the _relatively_ simple rules of chess, and Steve bungling every move. By the end of the evening, Steve watched Tony as he scrambled back and forth, playing from both sides by giving Steve the advice he needed to play himself. Steve felt harried.

But he had fun. The conversation never veered towards any dangerous zones, and Steve realized that this was probably the first time he had had a long conversation with Tony Stark without ending up at each others' necks. It was nice.

Tony yawned.

"I'm exhausted, Cap. I'm going to go to bed. Night", Tony chirped.

Steve said goodnight and laid down in his own bed. Tony had already begun to snore lightly. Steve tossed and turned but could not fall asleep. He ended up pulling on his dressing gown and heading down to the common room, pausing only to stick his wand into his dressing gown pocket.

Steve paced around the common room, wondering what exactly he was doing. He walked over to the fireplace and grabbed a pinch of Floo Powder from the vase on top of the mantel. 

He threw the powder into the fire and shouted "Kitchens". He stuck his head in and had a short conversation with a house elf. When he was done, he padded to his favorite overstuffed couch with a scone that the elf had pressed into his hand and nibbled as he waited.

He did not have to wait for long before the common room door swung open and Natasha walked in.

"Steve", she greeted curtly with a nod before she took a place next to him, daintily folding her legs under herself.

"Hey, Tasha. Thanks for coming down."

"I'm glad you called me. If it had been Stark, he would have probably tried to come down himself."

"They think this has something to do with Bucky."

Natasha froze. She and Bucky had had some sort of romantic off and on relationship while he had been at school. They still kept in contact.

"That is impossible", she concluded sharply.

"I know that as well as you do", Steve replied calmly, "I don't think he has anything to do with it, but he _is_ a pattern."

"How?"

"All of the victims were friends of his."

Natasha scoffed.

"Bucky had loads of friends."

"I know that, Tasha, but these were all people who still talk to him. I just wanted to ask. When was the last time you got a letter from him?"

Natasha frowned in concentration.

"It has been a while. Longer than usual."

Steve nodded.

"Me too."

"Something is up, Steve."

"I know, Tasha. And we're going to figure it out."


	16. Chapter 16

It had been two weeks since Steve had been assigned to drag around his best friends wherever he went, and although it had been kind of nice at first, Steve was starting to feel rather stifled. 

It was interesting at first, seeing how his friends reacted differently to their assignments. Surprisingly, both Natasha and Clint had taken their assignments very seriously and were always on red alert. They always had their wands out, even when they were just walking down the hallways during the day. 

Tony had taken on the task as he usually took on tasks, with lighthearted humor and jibes, but once, when some passerby nearby had drawn his wand to fix a tear in his robes, Tony had jumped in front of Steve, wand already out and ready. Steve thought that was how Tony must have gone through life, breezing through work and always being underestimated. Tony was a force to be reckoned with.

Bruce was kind of jumpy and nervous, but he usually was jumpy and nervous anyway, so Steve didn't mind. Bruce was always nice and polite and would go over the more difficult lessons for Steve as they walked. 

Thor was pretty much the complete opposite of Bruce, loud and boisterous and fun, even if he usually underestimated his own strength when hugging. Thor always seemed ready for a fight though, and had a bit of a hot temper.

Loki was always ready for a fight, but in a very different way. Loki had a calm outward demeanor, but seemed to be pure rage underneath. Loki had a strange way of judging people, and you could get on his bad list in a second. Once you were on his bad list, you would have to go through hell to get off of it. But the funny thing was, most people didn't realize that Loki hated them. Loki was a trickster and a master liar, and Steve had his suspicions that Loki was always up to something. But he was good company. Loki didn't expect Steve to be anything special, so Steve felt at ease. Also, Loki's anger was very rarely directed at Steve, so that was another plus.

Right now, Steve was walking with Loki who was glaring daggers at a couple of giggling second year girls.

"What did they do, Loki?", Steve asked with a sigh.

"They're in my Potions class, and they _never_ stop talking. It drives me insane", Loki complained.

Steve smiled, but gave Loki a sympathetic look, glancing down at Loki's fist tightening around his wand.

"Loki", Steve warned.

Loki rolled his eyes and then grinned.

"Alright, Cap. Just for you."

"You and Tony are going to be the death of me", Steve complained.

"We wouldn't have it any other way", Loki laughed.

They walked into the Great Hall and headed over to the end of the table where Natasha and Bruce were already eating.

"Hey guys", Steve greeted.

"Hey Steve", Bruce nodded, "Loki."

Loki nodded back and stole a piece of toast from Natasha's plate. Natasha slapped his hand and glared. 

"How's Quidditch?", Loki asked Natasha.

Steve glanced up from the sandwich that he was making. Steve had seen Loki play Quidditch from time to time, but Loki wasn't really interested in it. Steve noticed that although Loki was asking Natasha, his eyes were trained on Banner.

Bruce blushed a bit. Steve shot Loki a questioning look, but Loki just winked. He would have to remember to ask Loki later.

Natasha and Loki chattered about the odds of winning the house cup, as Bruce stared very attentively at his soup.

By the time that Tony, Thor, and Clint finally joined them, Steve was already finished eating. Clint pulled out a rather long piece of parchment and waved it in the air.

"New Steve-sitting schedules, everyone!"

Steve inwardly groaned but pasted a smile on his face. It wouldn't do to make his friends think that he was ungrateful. He pretty much dragged everyone around to places that they didn't really need to go. Steve kind of felt bad. But there was nothing he could really do about it but try to figure out what was going on Steve had been talking to Natasha, and then by default, Clint about how Bucky might be involved or dragged into the situation, but all they had figured out so far was that none of them had heard from Bucky in months.

So it was a bit of a surprise when Tony and Steve drudged back to their dormitory and a house owl was perched inside of the room with a letter addressed to Steve in Bucky's tiny scrawl.


	17. Chapter 17

"Is that from...", Tony began.

Steve nodded silently. They both remained in the doorway of their dormitory for a while before Steve finally wiped his slightly sweaty palms on his trousers and walked over to his bed. Tony watched quietly as Steve moved over to his bedside table to grab a treat for the owl. Steve was always very sweet to the owls; Tony found it almost endearing that Steve had a bag of owl treats even though he didn't have his own owl. But at this moment, Tony wasn't paying attention at his roommate's overly thoughtful behavior. Instead, he was staring at the letter that the owl was bearing. Tony had a bad feeling about this.

"Maybe I should...", Tony voiced weakly, but was silenced quickly by a glare from Steve.

"He is my best friend. The letter is for me. I'll open it.", Steve said.

Steve was being stubborn, but Tony could understand that. Well, he kind of could. But still, Tony was worried about what the letter said, or held. It could be a curse for all that Steve knew. And since the curse had only been cast on Muggleborns so far, Tony would have been the safer bet. 

Tony watched as Steve slowly broke the seal on the envelope and began to read the letter. As he read, his eyebrows began to furrow.

"What is it?", Tony asked.

"Bucky... This letter is from Bucky. He's telling me to take this... potion? The letter says that the potion should be included with the letter, but the owl was only carrying the letter right?"

"If Bucky is telling you to take a strange potion, you've got to tell a professor!", Tony pushed.

It wasn't really Tony's thing to go and tell professors about things like this, but maybe they would know something about potions that drained people of their powers. This could help them fix whatever was wrong with Peggy and the others. This letter could help them figure out what Bucky had gotten himself into.

"I can't believe that Bucky...", Steve whispered, looking shocked.

Tony didn't like seeing Steve Rogers, normally all smiles, look so dejected, but comforting wasn't really his thing. Then again, there was no one else here to do the job, so Steve would have to deal with a terrible comforting job.

"Cap... _Steve_ , this can't all be Bucky. There has to be something else to do with it. I know you know Bucky, and I know you know that Bucky wouldn't ever try to harm you. Something must be wrong. The only way we're going to figure this out is if we show the letter to a professor. I know that you don't want to get Bucky in trouble, but it might save some people, Steve."

Steve nodded dumbly. He wiped his hands on his trousers and straightened up. 

"Alright. Let's go find Professor Coulson."

"Attaboy", Tony whispered, awkwardly patting his roommate on the back.

"We're going to have to tell the others too. Do you want to tell them now or after?", Steve asked.

"We don't know how long Coulson'll keep us, so I'll floo Loki now."

Steve nodded. Loki was usually the most reliable with messages. He tended to actually remember the whole message, as opposed to Thor, who usually lost most of the message in translation. Natasha tended to keep information to herself until she deemed it most beneficial to release it, and Barton usually got distracted. Bruce was okay, but it was full moon tonight, so Tony didn't feel like it was right to bother him.

Tony decided that it might be nice to give Steve a few minutes to himself, so he skipped down the stairs and to the fireplace so he could Floo the Slytherin common room. After relaying his message to Loki, he turned to find Steve waiting behind him.

"You ready?", Tony asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be."


	18. Chapter 18

Steve and Tony walked along in silence. Tony couldn't help but notice that Steve was walking _really_ slowly, but Tony really didn't want to mention it. After an incredibly long and awkward walk, they made it to Professor Coulson's office.

Now Coulson was not Tony's favorite professor of all time. The man once gave him detention for _three weeks_ when he had accidentally melted the couch in the Hufflepuff common room. And that was in Tony's first year. Ever since then, Coulson seemed to always have a scary eye trained on all of Tony's shenanigans. Then again, Tony loved a challenge. Still, Coulson was a professor that Tony was nearly positive that he could trust, so when Steve skidded to a halt outside of the office, Tony had no idea what was going through Steve's brain.

"I can't do this," Steve whispered.

"Ummm," Tony supplied helpfully.

"I can't turn Bucky in."

Tony had no idea to do. In general, he wasn't great at awkward social situations, and he was even worse when it came to goodie-two-shoes Steve Rogers. Especially when said goodie-two-shoes was hyperventilating.

"Let me go get Natasha," Tony offered, desperate to escape this situation.

"No!" cried Steve.

"No, you're right. Natasha would be terrible at this," Tony muttered"Bruce?"

Steve took a deep breath, which was a good thing, because Tony was starting to worry that the boy was going to pass out.

"Sorry. I didn't mean don't get _Natasha_. I just meant... Look. This whole situation is really crazy and weird, and I have no idea what is going on. I just don't want to get Bucky in trouble for something he isn't doing."

Tony wanted to mention that they weren't all sure that Bucky wasn't doing anything. Actually, it really looked like Bucky was doing something. Sure, Steve knew Bucky best, but Steve could be a little... naive. 

"Well, let's let Coulson know what's going on, and the professors will figure it out. They're not going to just go and toss Bucky Barnes into Azkaban without proof," Tony pointed out.

Steve nodded slowly.

"Thanks, Tony," he sighed.

"Alright, Cap, let's go figure this thing out."


	19. Chapter 19

Loki pointed his wand at Bruce and quietly muttered a partial-silencing spell.

They were standing in the corridor right outside of the hospital wing, and Natasha was inside creating a distraction. Loki glanced at his watch.

"You'll be good in three....two...one....GO!"

Bruce Banner sprinted into the hospital wing and made a direct beeline to where the students who had been affected by the cure were. Peggy sat awake in her bed.

"Bruce!" she exclaimed, "What are you doing here?"

Bruce blushed. 

"I've come to see how you're doing," he replied.

"I've been told that I can't have visitors," Peggy mentioned with narrowed eyes.

"Natasha and Loki snuck me in," Bruce explained.

Peggy grinned

"It's nice to see a friendly face."

"How have you been?" Bruce asked.

"I've been fine," Peggy replied with a smile.

Bruce snorted. Of course Peggy would act like she was fine. Sometimes he wondered if Peggy was too proud.

"I know you're fine, Peggy," Bruce sighed, "You're always fine, aren't you?"

Peggy squinted at him.

"Did you come down here to nag at me, or what?"

"I was planning on bringing you flowers, but Natasha took them saying that they would be proof that I'd been here," Bruce mentioned.

"That sounds like something Natasha would do," Peggy replied with a grin.

"We found out what did this to you!" Bruce blurted out.

Peggy's grin faded and she leaned back against the pillows that were propping her up. 

Bruce stared at her for a bit before it hit him.

"You knew!" he exclaimed, "You knew all this time!"

"I didn't want to get Bucky in trouble."

"This has happened to other students, Peggy! This was dangerous and stupid! You could have stopped three more people from taking that potion! _Steve_ almost took that potion!"

Tears began to gather in Peggy's eyes. 

"I'm sorry, Bruce."

"Do you know anything about what he's doing?" Bruce asked tiredly. 

"No," Peggy replied, "I swear! I just got this letter."

Peggy pulled out a letter from underneath her pillow and pushed it into Bruce's hand. She also produced a tiny empty bottle.

"This is the bottle the potion came in," Peggy whispered, "I hope it helps."

Bruce nodded silently, before taking Peggy's hand in his own.

"I'm sorry I shouted."

"I deserved it," Peggy replied with a shrug, "I was being stupid and reckless. I was hoping that it would only be me."

"You were trying to protect a friend."

"Yeah. I was."

Bruce checked his watch and realized that his time was up. He said goodbye and rushed out of the hospital wing, having to stop to duck behind a cupboard to avoid a nurse. 

Natasha and Loki were waiting for him in the corridor.

"So?" Loki asked as they began to walk.

Bruce produced the empty bottle and letter.

"She knew," Natasha breathed.

Bruce nodded, taking long strides down to the Room of Requirement.

"Now we figure out what this is all about."


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this has taken so long. I've had a busy few days!

"Have you spoken to Coulson yet?" Erik Lensherr gasped as he rushed into Charles Xavier's office.

Charles raised his eyebrows.

"I have."

"Well?"

"I haven't seen you so excited about anything for quite a while," Charles laughed. 

Erik rolled his eyes. 

" **Do you have the letter?** " Erik gritted out.

"I have a copy of it."

"Well let's have it!" Erik exclaimed impatiently.

"Alright! Alright!"

Charles handed over the letter, and Erik read through it fervently. Charles watched him closely and was not surprised to see Erik frown at the end of the letter. It had made Charles feel a little sick as well. He remembered teaching Bucky Barnes. The boy was bright and always friendly. A little on the rowdy side, but Charles had been sure that he would have been successful. And now there was this.

"There is something wrong with this letter," Erik muttered.

"Other than the fact that it was written in the hand of one of our most clever and well liked students?," Charles asked.

"Yes."

Erik began to pace with the letter in his hand. He held the parchment up to the light streaming in from the window. He placed it against Charles' desk. He sat down and then stood up again. Then, he grabbed a scrap of parchment and a quill and began to scribble a few words from the letter down.

"This letter was written under the influence of the Imperius curse," Erik concluded.

"What?!" Charles exclaimed, "Are you certain?"

"Yes... yes..." Erik answered absentmindedly, "I'm sure."

"We've got to tell Coulson and Nick!" Charles shouted as he made for the door.

"Floo will be faster," Erik drawled.

Sometimes Charles seemed to forget he was a wizard. Erik wondered if that happened with all Muggleborns. Forgetting that there was a Floo network. When you weren't raised in a world...

"Right! Of course," Charles answered, a slight tinge of embarrassment showing through his frantic behavior.

Erik tossed a pinch of Floo powder into the fireplace and stuck his head in. Charles joined him and found themselves in Nick Fury's office fireplace. Erik explained what he had found, and Fury listened.

Erik figured that Fury wouldn't have listened if Charles wasn't there as well. Fury had always been suspicious about Erik, even when they were all students themselves at Hogwarts.

When they were done, Charles tugged Erik out of the fireplace and stood on his tiptoes to dust Erik's robes off.

"Explain," Charles instructed.

And so Erik did. He walked Charles through the strange word patterns in the letter and the strangled letter figures in the Barnes kid's signature. And then, Erik showed Charles that Bucky had retraced the letters _D, O, N_ , and _t_. And of course, the fact that the boy hadn't attached the potion in the end, making certain that Rogers would not drink the potion.

"He was clearly doing his best to fight it," Erik pointed out in conclusion.

Charles stared at Erik in awe.

"That was _fantastic_ ," Charles breathed.

Erik had to fight off a blush, a problem that he only ever really had to deal with around Charles Xavier. 

Charles propped himself back up onto his tiptoes and pressed a light kiss against Erik's lips.

Erik was about to say something, but Charles waved a hand to stop him.

"Let's not talk about it right now. I'm not sure what I even want yet. I felt that you needed to be kissed right then though."

Erik nodded silently. He wasn't going to argue against a kiss from Charles Xavier.

"You want to be the one to tell Rogers about the news?" Erik asked.

Charles grinned.

"Oh Erik, you know me so well."


	21. Chapter 21

Clint was waiting for them in the Room of Requirement. He stood to the side, fiddling with his robes, as Loki and Bruce attacked the three cauldrons set up. They had stopped by the library to check out a stack of books relating to figuring out what mystery potions were. Natasha stood a good distance from the books, she was not a huge fan of potions. Arithmancy was more her thing.

They worked in a fervor for hours, the first hour completely dedicated to replicating to potion from what little dregs they had at the bottom of the bottle. The spent the rest ruling out various poisons, truth potions, and magic stunters.

At the end of the fifth hour though, they had an answer.

"It's a cloaking potion," Loki breathed.

Clint blinked the sleep out of his eyes. He had been charming spare quills to fly about and hit targets that he had drawn on the wall in chalk. 

"Is that good news?" Clint asked.

"Very good news," Natasha replied. "It means that their magic is still there. It's just being cloaked."

"Well that's great!" Clint exclaimed, "How do we fix it?"

"It shouldn't be too difficult, but we're going to need the help of Professor Lensherr," Bruce answered, wringing his hands.

Bruce was scared of Professor Lensherr. Actually, pretty much everyone was.

"No problem," Natasha announced, "I've got it.

Oh yeah, except Natasha. Natasha wasn't really afraid of much. Anyway, Professor Lensherr seemed to like her.

"Do we have to go with you?" Clint asked, hoping for the best.

Natasha turned one of her death glares upon him.

"You are all coming with me, thank you very much."

The three boys groaned in unison. 

"Don't worry too much, I think we'll find him in Xavier's office, so he'll be in a good mood," Natasha added with a wink.

"Eww!" Clint shouted, "Mentally scarred!"


	22. Chapter 22

The boys all crowded slightly behind a pillar next to Professor Xavier's office while Natasha stepped up to knock. She turned to give them a disbelieving raised eyebrow, as the door opened.

Professor Xavier looked as cheerful as ever, and as Natasha had predicted, Professor Lensherr was lurking about in the background.

"Hello, Professors," she greeted.

"Hello Natasha," Professor Xavier replied, "Hello boys. You aren't doing a fantastic job of hiding behind that pillar over there. You might as well come in."

Bruce, Clint, and Loki filed into the room after Natasha, slightly blushing.

"So what can we do for you, Ms. Romanov?" asked Professor Xavier.

"Well... the truth is that we might have been doing some digging about with all this curse stuff..." Natasha began.

This had to be perfectly worded, as they had been breaking plenty of school rules by keeping the potion bottle from the headmaster in the first place.

"You see," Natasha went on, eyes brimming with tears, "We've been so nervous about Steve..."

Professor Lensherr waved his hand impatiently.

"Ms. Romanov, you can cut the crap. We don't care about what you and your little band of friends have been doing. What have you found out?" he asked.

Natasha blinked twice and was back to her normal self.

"Bruce found out that the potion is a cloaking potion," she answered.

Professor Lensherr narrowed his eyes and turned to look at Bruce.

"What tests did you run?"

"Well, most of them, Professor. I've been working for a few hours," Bruce replied.

"It would have taken most people days, Mr. Banner," Professor Lensherr said.

"Bruce is clever," Natasha filled in.

"Alright, so the point is that now that you know the potion is a cloaking agent, you can find the cure, right?" Loki voiced.

Charles Xavier took a deep breath.

"It will be a little more complicated than that, Mr. Laufeyson," he answered.

"I'll need whatever bit of the potion you were testing on, if you duplicated it," Professor Lensherr finished.

Bruce nodded and reached into his pocket, pulling out three bottles worth of the potion. He had considered this ahead of time.

Professor Lensherr nodded in approval.

"And I'll need your help, Mr. Banner. Two heads are better than one in this instance, and you seem to have an alright one on you."

Everyone in the room froze. That was the closest thing to a compliment anyone had ever heard the professor offer to a student. 

Bruce blushed and then agreed to help. 

"Well, let's get to it, boy," Professor Lensherr commanded.

They both left, leaving Natasha, Loki, and Clint with Professor Xavier.

"I'm going to have to tell the headmaster about this," Professor Xavier sighed, "But I can't imagine you doing any less for your friends. I'm quite proud of you."

"As you said, Professor, we couldn't do anything else," Loki replied neatly.

"Now, next time you get some important information, I expect you to come directly to us. Do you understand?"

The trio nodded and then thanked the professor before leaving. 

They made sure that the door was closed safely behind them before turning to each other.

"Do you have the feeling that something bad is about to happen," Clint asked.

Natasha sighed softly and then clipped him lightly on the back of his head.

"Yeah, Barton. We better buckle down."


	23. Chapter 23

"I mean, what I'm trying to say, is that I appreciate everything you guys have done for me, but I don't need to be babysat anymore. I can take care of myself," Steve sighed.

Tony snorted from his own bed.

"You try to take care of everyone all the time, and we spend tiny amount of time to make sure that you aren't _killed_ and you get all... antsy."

"I'm not some helpless kid, Tony. I can handle this. You guys shouldn't have to waste your time protecting me from a nonexistant threat," Steve argued.

Tony sat up on his bed and began to walk towards Steve.

"A nonexistent threat?" Tony laughed, "This is as existent of a threat as you're ever going to get, Rogers. And you know what? For someone who acts so self-righteous all the time, you are so stuck up!"

"Excuse me?"

"Yeah, you heard me. You run around helping people, protecting the weak and all that shit, but the _moment_ anyone stops to help you, you refuse it point blank. It hurts you to accept it. You think you're above it. You think you don't need it."

Steve fought the urge to take a step back from Tony, who was now incredibly close to him. Then again, Tony Stark wasn't known for understanding normal people concepts, like personal space.

"In this instance, I actually _don't_ need anyone's help. If someone is after me, then they'll come after me. There is no point in you guys getting caught in the crossfire," Steve pointed out.

"You'd never accept help from someone like me. Someone you consider a screw up. And what do you expect us to do, Rogers? Leave you to the wolves?"

"What do you mean, someone who I consider a screw up?" Steve interrupted.

"Oh, don't bother with the bullshit, Cap. Everyone knows you hate me. I'm a failure in your eyes," Tony spat bitterly.

"You think I _hate_ you?" Steve asked incredulously.

"Oh, come on, Rogers. You walk around with your ridiculous moral code and high standards. How do you expect to _not_ hate me?"

Steve looked into Tony's eyes to see if there was any trace of deception there, although he wasn't really expecting any. It had always hurt Steve to see Tony selling himself short. 

Steve grabbed Tony by the shoulders and pressed his lips against Tony's. Tony froze, and Steve did too for a moment before stepping back quickly and bolting out of the room. Steve didn't stop running until he reached the Great Hall, and realized that for the first time in a long time, he didn't have a Coulson-chosen babysitter with him. He was very alone.


	24. Chapter 24

A hand descended onto Steve's shoulder.

He jumped and spun around.

It was Natasha. Steve sighed in relief.

"What are you doing alone?" Natasha asked

"Got in a fight with Tony," Steve answered.

Steve prepared to be chastised, but Natasha simply nodded and then shot him a look of warning to not do it again.

"Let's get to a common room so I can floo him, so he won't worry," Natasha suggested, "It'll be lunch soon, so we can come back to eat."

Steve agreed and followed behind a few steps. He noted that Natasha had her wand out.

The Hufflepuff common room was the closest to the Great Hall, so they ducked in. Clint and Thor were sitting in a corner eating candy.

"This is what you two do when I'm not around?" Natasha demanded.

Thor had the decency to look at least a little abashed. Clint simply grinned and shot a Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Bean at Steve. 

"We're going to borrow your fireplace," Steve mentioned, reminding Natasha why they had come in the first place.

Natasha gracefully glided over to the fireplace and threw a pinch of Floo powder into the flames. Steve watched them turn green and then turned back to the boys.

"We're going to head down to lunch after this. You guys gonna come?"

Thor perked up a little at the mention of lunch. Clint looked at his friend and grinned.

"We're always ready for food, Cap," Clint declared.

Natasha finished talking to Tony and walked back over.

"Stark is going to skip out on lunch. Are you guys ready?"

Steve took a deep breath and tried his hardest to not look ashamed or embarrassed.

"Yeah. Let's go."

The Great Hall was pretty full, but the trio found Loki and Bruce already eating at a table with a first year.

"Hey guys," Bruce greeted, "have you met Peter Parker?"

Introductions were made and Steve grabbed a sandwich from a platter. 

"Peter is thinking about playing for Ravenclaw next year. He's a pretty good Seeker," Bruce went on.

Peter chuckled.

"I'll only try out for Seeker if Bruce tries out for Beater. He's absolutely amazing!" Peter exclaimed.

Steve smiled.

"I didn't know you were thinking about trying out," he said.

Bruce blushed.

"I'm just thinking. I don't know what Fury will say."

"Bruce, he won't give a damn, and you know that as well," Natasha butted in, "You should do it."

Bruce seemed to relax a bit. The one in their group who had had the worst time with the fact that Bruce was a werewolf was Natasha, since she had been attacked as a child. It meant a lot to Bruce to have her support.

"You would make a fine player of Quidditch, my friend," Thor added.

"I'll think about it," Bruce replied with a smile.

"You should do more than think about it," a voice from behind Steve said.

It was Tony, looking as... well... normal as ever. Well, not exactly normal. He had his mask of swagger and cool on. Steve did his best to avoid eye contact.

Tony sat next to Bruce and slung an arm around his shoulder.

"You would kick ass at Quidditch. And then you could join our improv games. We need another beater," Tony went on.

Then the doors to the Great Hall slammed shut.


	25. Chapter 25

"What the hell?" Tony exclaimed.

"Must be windy or something," Clint offered.

"Wind wouldn't blow those doors shut," Bruce answered, "they're charmed."

"You read too much," Clint replied.

"Everyone shut up," Natasha hissed.

They looked over to see Natasha had already drawn her wand, quickly followed by Loki drawing his. 

"Something's up," Natasha muttered.

"Only half of the professors are eating here today," Loki murmured back.

Steve looked to the front of the room and saw that what Loki had said was true. The only staff members sitting at the table were Headmaster Fury, Professor Coulson, Ms. Mactaggert, and Professor Hill.

Steve slowly drew his wand and noticed that the rest of his friends were all doing the same. Thor was about to stand up, but Loki put a hand on his brother's shoulder and shook his head.

"Not yet," he whispered, "we don't know what's going on yet."

Steve glanced at the front table again and noticed that the professors had all drawn their wands underneath the table. Nick Fury was just about to stand up when a red curse whizzed through the air and almost hit him.

Students screamed as they ducked under the tables. People scrambled to draw their wands, but Steve, Clint, Natasha, Tony, Bruce, Loki, and Thor had simultaneously and instinctively formed a circle with their backs to each other and wands drawn. 

Steve glanced at the door and realized that they were all trapped.

A few more curses flew through the air, the red flashes scorching walls and tables, but not hitting anyone yet.

Steve was standing next to Natasha, in the position to be looking at the closed door, when he saw a person appear out of nowhere and fling an invisibility cloak onto the ground.

It was Bucky.


	26. Chapter 26

Bucky looked terrible.

He had bags under his eyes, and he looked like he hadn't shaved in a month. He was wearing Muggle clothing that looked like it had been pulled out of a dumpster.

Steve had to clench the sleeve of Natasha's robe to prevent her from launching herself at Bucky. 

"Wait," he whispered.

Two other wizards that Steve didn't recognize pulled off Invisibility Cloaks as well. 

Bucky doubled over in pain.

"Steve! Run!" he shouted.

And suddenly Steve was being shoved into the inside of the circle. 

"Get down," Loki hissed.

And then the fight began.

There were only three people attacking, but many of the students in the hall were young and didn't know any curses that would be helpful. Bruce had broken out of the circle to lead the younger students to build a sort of barricade with the tables. Thor had taken over Bruce's spot with gusto. 

Someone grabbed Steve by the shoulder. It was Tony. He had stepped inside of the circle and Loki and Thor had closed in behind him. Tony shoved his Invisibility Cloak into Steve's hand.

"Didn't think you'd want to miss the fight," Tony said with a wink.

"Thanks," Steve replied.

Tony leaned in close and kissed Steve breathily.

"Now let's go get these bastards."

Tony pushed himself back into the circle, while Steve pushed himself out of it, whispering a plan to Natasha. She didn't give anything away, but did raise an eyebrow in reply.

Steve kept low as he walked through the Great Hall. He realized that the curses were surprisingly focused on his friends, and not the professors. The professors were doing their best to throw wards over the students, but since there were so few of them and so many students, they didn't have much time to fight on the offense. There also seemed to be some sort of barrier keeping the professors from helping the group of friends fighting in a circle.

The older students wouldn't be able to hold them off for much longer.

Steve recognized this, and he also recognized that he was no match for Bucky, especially when he was under orders from someone else. So instead, Steve headed for the doors of the Great Hall. 

When he got to them, he realized that they were charmed to be locked from the inside, making it impossible for the people on the other side to unlock the doors. Steve whispered a quick unlocking spell and the doors flung open.

The entire rest of the staff were on the other side with their wands out.

Steve had to jump out of the way to prevent himself from being trampled by the Hogwarts professors. 

Professors Lensherr and Xavier took in the scene and headed straight towards Steve's friends. Professor Lensherr stood directly between Bucky and the group and began to cast a ward.

"Where's Steve Rogers?" he shouted over the fighting.

"Invisibility Cloak," Natasha replied, "He opened the doors."

"Well, where is he now?!"

"No idea."

Steve overheard the conversation.

"I'm right here, Professor," he whispered.

To his credit, Erik Lensherr didn't even flinch.

"Steve, I need you to give me some of your hair," Lensherr instructed.

Steve furrowed his eyebrows in confusion but did as he was told. Professor Lensherr took the hair and stuffed it into a flask before pressing another flask into the hand sticking out of the Invisibility Cloak.

"Drink," the professor commanded sternly.

Steve took a swing and almost spit it out.

"All of it," the professor added.

Steve drank the rest. It only took him a moment to realize that it was Polyjuice potion. He felt as if his skin was boiling. His bones had a weird and distinctly painful stretching feeling to them, and he was suddenly much much thinner. Steve didn't have a mirror on him, but he was pretty sure that he looked like Professor Lensherr now. 

The professor yanked the Invisibility Cloak off of Steve and threw it over himself for a moment. When he emerged into view again, he looked like Steve Rogers.

"Go ahead and fight like you wanted to now, Rogers," Lensherr shouted before running off and fighting himself.

Suddenly, all of the curses were directed at Professor Lensherr.

"What is going on?" thought Steve, "Why would people want to kill _me_?"

But nonetheless, they did. Steve glanced over to see how Bucky was doing, and realized that Professor Xavier was attempting to get closer to his student by only deflecting curses. Steve rushed over and shouted "Petrificus Totalus!"

Bucky's arms and legs slammed to his side before he fell over.

Professor Xavier looked delighted.

"Erik! What a wonderful idea! I don't know why I didn't think of that," Xavier exclaimed before kissing Steve on the lips.

Steve froze, and his eyebrows shot up. Xavier looked confused when Steve ran off, but then turned to tend to Bucky.

With the rest of the professors there and Bucky taken out, the fighting ended pretty quickly after that. 

Tony, who had been helping Ms. Mactaggert and Coulson take down one of the wizards, broke away from his group and ran over to Professor Lensherr (who still looked like Steve), and pressed an incredibly unchaste kiss against his lips, garnering a few wolf whistles from people nearby.

Professor Lensherr pushed Tony off of him, and Tony stumbled back with a confused frown.

"I am _not_ your boyfriend, Stark," Lensherr hissed.

Tony's frown deepened, as he concentrated on placing the voice.

"Lensherr?"

Professor Lensherr whacked him on the back of the head.

"That's _Professor_ Lensherr to you, kid."

Tony began to laugh, and then the rest of the people in the Great Hall began to laugh as well. 

Professor Xavier visibly paled and then glanced over at Steve.

Steve avoided Xavier's eyes and walked over to the several young students still hiding behind tables to make sure they were okay. Soon, the entire Great Hall was bustling with people checking on their friends and taking care of whatever small injuries that were caused by the fight.

Someone tapped Steve on the shoulder. It was Tony.

"That was quite a scene," Steve teased.

Tony grimaced.

"Yeah, sorry about that."

"Well, in my books you owe me a kiss then," Steve went on.

"There is a whole other side to you, Rogers," Tony replied, "I like it."

"But let's not when I look like this," Steve added.

Tony nodded. Hogwarts could only deal with so much weird at one time.


	27. Chapter 27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're hitting the final run guys! Thanks for reading for so long! Only one chapter to go.

Steve and Natasha pushed the door of the Room of Requirement open. Their entire group of friends were seated on couches facing the door and looking worried.

"How is he?" Peggy Carter asked.

Professor Lensherr and Bruce had worked on the antidote potion for three days before they hammered out the right formula, and all of the students affected by the curse had been treated. Now it was only Bucky that people were worried about. After Professor Xavier had moved Bucky out of the Great Hall during the fight, Bucky had broken out in a high fever. Coulson said that it had to do with a long term attempt at fighting the Imperius Curse. Today was the first day that Ms. Mactaggart had allowed anyone to visit him, but she was very strict in her demands that only two people could visit him. Steve and Natasha were the obvious choices

Steve grinned in reply.

"He's doing completely fine," Steve answered, "A little tired and worn out, but he's back to normal."

The friends all cheered and even Loki seemed to lose a little bit of his ever-present dignity in the rush of happiness through the room.

"When do we get to see him?" Tony asked as he walked up to Steve.

"Mactaggart said a week," Steve replied with a shy smile.

The pair hadn't really spoken in the week since the fight. They hadn't really had the time; Fury drafted everyone into the cleanup, and of course Tony had been working potion theory with Bruce. 

"Friends!" Thor boomed, "I have forgotten to congratulate you on your newfound relationship!"

Steve blushed.

"We haven't really figured that bit out yet, big guy," Tony replied with a wry smile.

"You're making it awkward for the lovebugs, lovebug," Clint laughed as he shot an arrow into the rafters.

"Who in Merlin's name gave Barton a bow and arrow?" Loki asked.

Natasha smiled rather evilly.

"I thought it might be fun," she said.

"Since it is _so_ much fun when you're constantly fearing for your life," Bruce replied.

"At least you'll all be on your toes," Natasha added with a shrug.

"Why won't you be fearing for your life?" Peggy asked.

"Barton wouldn't dare shoot anywhere near me."

"It's true," Clint voiced.

"So what's the story that they're telling the outside world?" Peggy asked.

"An outside group of pureblood extremists launched an attack on the school," Loki recited.

Headmaster Fury had dragged the two Stupified wizards up to his office and probable shouted at them until they told him who they were. Actually, with Fury, it would probably only have taken a glare. They had worked for this crazy pureblood elitist named Sebastian Shaw. He had sent his henchmen in to kidnap and curse Bucky and had a huge plan to rid Hogwarts of anyone with any Muggle blood in them.

Apparently, Shaw was some sort of old mentor of Professor Lensherr. It had shaken him up a bit when he found out who had orchestrated the whole thing. But it was alright though, since Fury was launching a huge mission to take down Shaw's organization, and Professor Xavier was doing a good job at keeping Lensherr calm. Apparently they were a proper thing now. There were lots of rumors about the professors dating when _they_ were students at Hogwarts, but no one knew if they were true or not.

Tony Stark poked Steve in the shoulder.

"Hey there."

"Hi, Tony."

"So."

"So."

There was an incredibly awkward pause.

"I really like you," Steve blurted out.

Tony smiled.

"Well that's good, because I really like you too," Tony replied.

"This is strange."

"What? You mean us not arguing for once?"

"I didn't mean all those things I said about you that day. I know you're a really good guy, Tony. It's just... frustrating sometimes. We have such different points of view," Steve babbled.

"Don't worry about it," Tony replied, "I mean, I get why we argued all the time. But I think we could get over that."

"It's going to take a while," Steve murmured, looking worried.

"Hey," Tony said, "Hey, Cap. Someday it won't be awkward, and we won't be nervous about making each other mad. Someday we will get to the point where we won't be jealous or nervous that we're talking too much or too little or saying the wrong things. Someday we will get there. It is okay if we're like this for a little while too. All things worth having have a rocky beginning."

Steve smiled.

"You always figure how to say the right things."

"That's my job, darling," Tony replied with a grin.

"You're definitely worth it, you know," Steve mentioned.

"Of course I am. Tony Stark and all that shit," Tony chirped.

"Tony," Steve said seriously, "I mean it."

Tony avoided his eyes.

"Thanks."

Then Tony turned around to face his friends who were scattered around the Room of Requirement, some of them ducking out of the way of Clint's arrows. Tony hoped that the arrows had been charmed to keep people from getting hurt. Bruce probably had.

"Hey everyone!" Tony shouted, "I've got a boyfriend!"

Steve blushed, and everyone broke out into applause again.


	28. Chapter 28

"...and that is why you're not telling your families what happened this year", Headmaster Fury concluded.

"That was quite an end-of-the-year speech," Loki mumbled.

"I would expect nothing less from Fury. That man's like a super spy," Bucky whispered through a mouthful of food.

Because Bucky had been recovering from the incident in the Hogwarts hospital wing, the professors decided to allow him to eat with the others in the end of the year feast. 

Peggy punched Bucky in the arm.

"Chew and swallow before you speak," she commanded.

"Yes, Ma'am," Bucky nodded, mouth still full of food.

"You're disgusting," Steve laughed.

"No more disgusting then you and lover boy over there," Bucky retorted. 

"Did somebody say Tony Stark?" Tony greeted, slinging his arm around Steve's waist.

"See?" Bucky complained, "If _anyone_ is getting some, then I would have assumed it would be me..."

"You're just not as charming as I am, Barnes," Tony laughed.

"Or me!" Clint piped up, "Ow!"

Someone had clipped him on the back of his head. Clint spun around to glare at his attacker. It was Professor Coulson.

"Oh, sorry, Mr. Barton. I didn't see you there," the professor greeted innocently.

The entire table burst out in laughter.

Later, on the train, the entire group found a way to pile into one compartment. Steve was pretty sure that Loki and Natasha had cast some sort of Enlarging charm on the compartment, but he didn't say anything. It was the end of the year anyway. And it was nice that all of their friends could be together. 

Peggy and Bruce sat in the corner whispering about Quidditch practice. Loki, Natasha, and Clint were chattering about the best way to carry out a magical prank, while Thor nodded sagely at their arguments while braiding Natasha's hair. Steve noticed that the end of a bow seemed to be poking out of Clint's trunk. Bucky had Portkeyed home, and was going to pick Steve up from Platform 9 3/4, and Tony was lightly snoring with his head rested against Steve's shoulder.

It had been a hell of a year, but Steve wouldn't have had it any other way.


	29. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my goodness! It is all over! I have had so much fun with this story. Thank you all for sticking to the end!

Professors Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr stood on the Hogwarts platform and watched the scarlet engine fade away into the distance. 

"Remember when we were that young?" Charles murmured.

"I hated ending each year because that meant leaving you," Erik whispered back.

Charles hit him on the arm.

"After second year, you practically _lived_ at my house," he laughed.

"Which was nice, darling, but there was nothing like being at Hogwarts with you. I've never felt like I belonged anywhere else."

Charles smiled and let Erik's hand slip into his own, as they turned back to the castle.

"Well, my friend, it's a good thing that we're here then," Charles said, "Let's go home."


End file.
